In the treatment and care of a variety of medical problems, disorders, illnesses as well as aging effects, practitioner's in the medical arts often apply a flow of relatively pure oxygen or an oxygen enriched mixture to the patient for respiration. Often the patient wears a mask or nasal cannula to facilitate breathing the oxygen or oxygen-rich mixture.
In any event, the patient's breathing attachment is typically coupled by a flexible tube or the like to a source of the therapeutic treatment gas. The gas source may be a wall mounted outlet such as that utilized by centralized distribution systems in hospitals and other patient care facilities or a stationary in-room supply. Some degree of mobility is afforded to the patient through the use of small portable compressed gas supplies. However, for the most part, patient's rely upon the more stationary in-room or hospital outlet supplies for their oxygen or other treatment gases.
The use of such stationary gas supplies substantially limits the mobility of the patient in that, the patient is in effect “tethered” to the stationary supply by the flexible tubing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,808 issued to Pierce sets forth a RETRACTABLE TUBING REEL for utilization in conjunction with an oxygen supply tank and a nasal catheter. The device includes a housing supporting a rotatable reel within which a quantity of flexible tubing is wound. A spring within the housing is operatively coupled to the tubing reel to provide a take-up or return force for rewinding withdrawn flexible tubing.
In a closely related art, several patents such as take-up reels for use with electrical cord or the like. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,481 issued to Weeler et al. sets forth a CORD TAKE-UP DEVICE having a housing defining a pair of adjacent compartments separated by a common interior wall. A cord take-up reel is rotatably supported within each compartment and flat wire cable is received in both sides of the compartment through housing apertures and wound upon its respective reel. A spring provides return or take-up tension to the cord reels.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,422,957 issued to Cummins sets forth a CABLE TAKE-UP FOR EARPHONES having a cylindrical case within which a cable is wound upon a rotating spool. A spring biases the spool toward cable retraction. A ratchet prevents the cable from retracting and a release for the ratchet is accessible from outside the case.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,558 issued to Peterson et al. sets forth a UNIDIRECTIONAL CORD TAKE-UP DEVICE for use with flat wire cable. The device includes a generally cylindrical case within which a take-up reel is supported. A spring is supported within the case and coupled to the reel for urging the reel toward cable take-up.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,082 issued to Simmons et al. sets forth an ELECTRIC POWER CORD TAKE-UP REEL WITH AUTOMATICALLY OPERATED LATCH PAWL ACTUATED SWITCHING MECHANISM having an external housing, a shaft mounted in the housing, and a spool journalled on the shaft for storing a length of electric power cord. A spring biased rewind mechanism returns a length of cord previously withdrawn from the wheel for storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,624 issued to Rosenberg sets forth a POSITIONING REEL for suspending a body such as a light-weight tool at any vertical position within the limits of the suspension cord. An adjusting screw regulates a clutch-type tensioning break which permits the supporting force of the positioning reel to be set to equalize the weight of the suspended tool. As a result, little effort is required to raise or lower the suspended tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,791 issued to Shafii-Kahany et al. sets forth a still further variation of take-up reel apparatus for entitled TAKE-UP REEL FOR COMBINED HOSE AND CABLE. U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,265 issued to Pauls et al. sets forth a ROTATION-ACTIVATED RESISTANCE DEVICE while U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,362 issued to Wilson sets forth an AUTOMATIC WIRE PULLER both having structures generally related to the present invention environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,014 issued to Daniel et al. sets forth an REELING ASSEMBLY for use in an environment such as fabric drying or the like.
While the foregoing described prior art devices have to some extent improved the art and have in some instances enjoyed commercial success, there remains nonetheless a continuing need in the art for a more improved apparatus for managing an increased length of flexible tubing for patients utilizing oxygen.